MBO ( Mabinogi Online )
by DetectiveAntonioX
Summary: When trapped in the world of no death, a Beater and her friends must work together in order to save themselves, and all other players, from death itself. Ironic, isn't it?
1. The World of Rebirth

In 2022, humanity has finally

created a complete virtual environment.

A grand castle stands below the night sky, with a small red moon and a large blue moon shining from above.

"It's time for this week's MMO Stream!"

Large amounts of lines were formed at many electronics stores.

"We began with a promotional video. Was this the day of last week's launch? What were all these people waiting in line for? Mabinogi Online!"

A crowd of very happy gamers stood in front of the story with their purchased copy of Mabinogi Online, some with the famous NerveGear helmet as well. There was one teen with a hidden face, hidden by a cyan cap with goggles on top.

"The ones at the front of the line were waiting for three days prior to launch. Simply Amazing! Or is this just what any real gamer would do?"

A newspaper flips pages, landing on a page with who seemed to be either a scientist or a programmer.

"On today's MMO Stream, we'll be covering the internationally famous Mabinogi Online, AKA MBO!"

Flipping the pages some more, the hand holding it received a light paper cut, with a small amount of blood leaking.

"To be honest, none of the NerveGear software released so far has really taken advantage of the hardware…"

The broadcast was cut by a light knocking on the bedroom door.

"Sister? I'm off to work!"

A older man with short black hair left the house in a hurry, with his sister watching him leave from her second floor window.

"But MBO was made by the NerveGear inventor, Kayaba Akihiko, and it's a long-awaited VR MMORPG. Only Five-Thousand copies were being sold in its first printing, it sold out online in seconds…"

A text message came up on her phone.

'Hey, ready to get started? I'm too excited!' – K

'Totally! See you on the other side!' - E

The game cartridge was put in; the girl with the black hair with slightly longer hair put the NerveGear helmet on, and laid upon her bed, staring at the ceiling. The clock on the display read 12:59 a.m. while the helmet powered on, and as the clock turned to 1:00 p.m., the girl smiled while closing her eyes.

"Link start!"

Flying past a wave of colors, a white background.

Touch: OK

Sight: OK

Hearing: OK

Taste: OK

Smell: OK

All flashed green and flew away from sight.

Language: English

User ID: ********

Pass: ******

Character Creation

Beta test data still available.

Would you like to use it?

Kyza(f)

**Yes**

No

Welcome to

Mabinogi Online!

A flash of blue leads up to the wide blue skies, while her sight lowers back to the ground, her feet, and her hands, her avatars long hair of black fading into silver.

"Finally…"

Her hands clenched in excitement.

"I'm back in this world!"

Many more players had teleported from nowhere, all in a small, beautiful town known as Tir Chonaill. After fighting her way through an entire hoard of players wanting to get their weapons and go through tutorials. Lucky for her, she didn't _have _to go through the tutorials again, but she had to start fresh in terms of equipment and skills, including the starting clothes of which she didn't mind, she hates armor, and with the scientist she proclaims to be, she uses the basic alchemy cylinder and a basic short sword.

Already knowing how the game works, Kyza made her way to the nearby wolves, away from the usual quest line, she could do it later.

"There you are!"

Suddenly the girl was hugged from behind by another girl about her age with neck length black hair and two cat like ears. and the same starting clothing, but was black and red as opposed to white and red and a black cats tail. Her golden-orange feline eyes happily gleamed back at her friends pink eyes.

"Ah, I was wondering where you've been."

"Sorry, I was looking around for another friend; I thought he wouldn't get the game after the beta!"

"It's not a problem, Fiorae, I'm just happy we're back!"

"We can take this game down together!"

They both smiled at each other before noticing a hoard of wolves surrounding each other. Exactly how they met in the beta. Kyza equipped her cylinder, loading it with fire red crystals on one end, the other end set on fire while Fiorae pulled a large two-handed sword out of its sheath. The wolves lunged themselves at the two, while the two's smile faded, and they both launched themselves towards them all.

The wolves' bodies were on the ground, either riddled with cuts and stab wounds, or literally burning to a crisp before they all dissolved into particles. Fiorae was surprised of the results, about ten level ups and a few sellable things.

"Unbelievable. We're too strong for wolves. This won't be too bad!"

"Keep in mind; we only got as far as Generation 3, who knows what lies beyond that. They may have even changed a few things."

"Right …"

Fiorae turned to Kyza with a swift turn.

"But that doesn't mean it's not possible!"

"Hm, I guess your right about that!"

The two made their way back to town, while Fiorae opened up her menu, requesting to add Kyza as a friend. She accepted before they both high-fived.

"I'm going to go and grab so pizza, it should be here by now!"

"Alright, I'm gonna go look around for a while, see if anything's changed."

"Cool, see you later!"

She had opened up her menu before Kyza started to walk away.

"Um, Kyza?"

"What's up?

She turned around to Fiorae, with her menu open, but there was a blank option.

"The … the log out button is gone?"

"What? That can't be right. Here, lemme see."

She pulled up her menu as well, and she wasn't kidding, the log out button was gone.

"H-how ..?"

"There isn't a way to call a GM, is there?"

"No … no there isn't."

The sound of a bell rung out in the air … however, there was no bell tower in this town.

"That bell … Dunbarton?"

"What the, Kyz-!"

Fiorae had suddenly started glowing, then disappeared, Kyza following along with her the same way. Regaining her sight, she found herself in the town square of the merchant town, Dunbarton, while many more players have been teleported to the town. It looks like Fiorae is nowhere to be found too.

The sky had turned blood red, a blot of shadow appeared from the ground, taking the form of a black robed man.

"**Attention players. I welcome you to my world."**

"My world …?"

"**My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world."**

**Pause**

_**Alright, hold up a sec there. I'm sorry, but I'm not about to explain the plot of what's going on here, I'm fairly sure that whoever is reading this has already watched and/or finished SAO 1, so you already know what the deal is, but if you're new to this and don't want to watch the anime, I'll make things easy.**_

_**Basically this is a death game. Until the players have managed to fully complete the game, they are not allowed to leave the game. In SAO, dying means death, no matter what world you're in, so if you die in the game, you die in real life. Of course, I have to change the rules, not slightly, but a lot for the sake of this story.**_

_**Mabinogi is the game where death doesn't exist. Of course I have to mess that up. When all HP is depleted, you do go into a dying process, but if someone were to use a Phoenix Feather to revive you in three minutes, you are revived. You cannot be in combat to use said feather and you must be close enough to revive that player. No ifs, ands, or buts.**_

_**To replace the 100 floors of Aincrad, I instead have the story progress by the Generation/Story Missions of Mabinogi, ending at the first Saga. The end bosses have to be made even more powerful than you may already know, or not know if you have not played the game, basically VERY destructive.**_

_**Oh, one more thing! In SAO, the players true face was revealed in the first episode instead of their avatars. I will not be doing that. Why? Two reasons. Mabinogi's avatars can be very creative, and can lead to some interesting stuff in my eyes. The other reason is that with the characters I'm using, some of them are actual players from the game, so I have no idea what their true face really is. Just go with your imagination on that one, that's what I've been doing.**_

_**Alright, that's all from me. I hope you enjoy this series. Oh, and I own nothing but my OC's.**_

_**-The Detective**_

The Red and Black disappeared from the sky, all remained in silence for a moment.

Before they all started to panic.

Kyza couldn't waste any time waiting, finding Fiorae, and dragging her to an empty alleyway.

"Thank god, there you are!"

"Yeah …"

"Why would he do something like this? Just for kicks?"

"I'm not sure … but I think we can get answers."

"Huh?"

"Listen, we have to get started now, getting all of the skills and gear we can get. You remember how strong the first Generation End was, right?"

She had shuddered just thinking about it.

"I really don't want to … but if what he said was true … we don't have much choice, do we?"

"No, but one thing's for sure. I'm not about to die in here. And I'm sure you're not about to either."

"Of course not! It's just …"

She had eyed back at some people, completely unsure of what to do.

"Some of my other friends here haven't played the beta like you and I have, they must be scared out of their minds."

" ... I understand."

"Don't worry about me, I'll make sure that we meet up again at the First End! Just … make sure you stay alive until then, alright Kyza?"

Fiorae pumped a fist out, while Kyza only stared at it for a moment before responding back with a fist bump.

"The same goes to you!"

Kyza started walking back slowly, trying to hold back the tears before she started running back to Tir Chonaill.

"I'm sorry …."

A bear cub stood in her way, looking prepared to completely maul her as she loaded up a white crystal in the cylinder and shot out a powerful blast of wind, smashing it into the ground.

"I won't let this world be the end of me!"


	2. Beater

A destroyed version of Tir Chonaill appears, zooming in on a dungeon in the exact place of Alby dungeon.

_One month has passed since the game began. During that time, five hundred people have died, and what's more is that no one has yet been able to clear the first generation. Being a beta tester, you think I'd know where to find the last dungeon, but I've had … no luck. But that's going to change. Today, we're finally holding a meeting on how to defeat the first end boss. _

I decided to change my appearance a little bit considering the rebirth system still works. I kept my pink eyes, but changed my hair from a short black, to a long black fading on silver with a ponytail, and some of it blocking my right eye. In terms of clothing, I went and got a suit for alchemist's-in-training, which is really just brown dress shoes, black slacks and silver shirt with brown belt buckle. Strange enough, there was supposed to be a coat with it. Oh well.

We decided to meet at the beach nearby the mining town of Bangor, Port Ceann. Taking the moongate, I arrived just before the morning, noticing a large amount of able looking players. Noticing the meeting was about to start, I looked around for an empty seat, preferably away from some of the others. It was then that I noticed a boy sitting alone, one in a casual suit with blue slacks, purple dress shirt, white tie, and cyan coat in eggplant colored boots. His dark skin sets him apart from the others, the same with his oddly pale purple shoulder length hair, his eyes covered by a cyan cap with goggles on top. I slowly took a seat next to him, but he shuffled away just a little bit.

"Not really much of a people person, huh?"

He merely shook his head.

"That's understandable."

"Alright, everyone, listen up!"

The meeting took way for a while, up till point where the raid leader said to make up six parties, which is a problem for me because I'm a solo player! Actually … it doesn't look like this guy has a party either.

"Hey … do you want to work together for this End?"

He merely looked at me as if I was a crazy person … well, he was half right.

"I don't want to do it as much as you do, but fighting the First End alone isn't going to end well for either of us."

He continued staring at me, but then softly nodded. I sent him a party invite and he quickly accepted.

**Kyza**

**Duster**

Duster? That almost sounds like a real name …

"Now then, to begin planning, I think we shou-."

"Hold up!"

A guy with blond spiky hair appeared before the moon gate closed as the sun finally rose.

"The name's Luki! I want to say something before we take on the First End. Some of you here need to apologize for the five hundred who have died so far!"

He pointed a finger at a random person in the crowd. I knew exactly what he was talking about.

Beta Testers … me …

"The day this game started, the beta's left all the beginners in order to get rare gear or unique quests, leaving the rest of us to figure out the game ourselves! If they had stayed and helped us, those five hundred wouldn't be gone! I'm sure there is someone who was in the beta here!"

Oh god … is it my fault?

"Any beta testers should give up all the money and gear that they earned, or that can't be trusted as party members to begin with!"

No, no, no … don't start shaking now … please …

"Hey! You two up there!"

Shit.

"Yeah, the alchemist and guy in the hat! You think you're excluded from this? Although … the alchemist does look like she hasn't done much on her own. You're in the clear, sweetie!"

Sweetie?! Oh, if this wasn't a death game, he'd be getting knocked into the ocean!

"However, you in the hat! What's with the suit? Not a lot of people would wear casual clothes like that when you need all the armor you can get! Is it because you think you're invincible, like a beta tester?! You don't even have any weapons out! Why don't you just give up what you have and leave, shrimp? You're no good to us like this!"

On second thought, I think I'll do it anyway …

Reaching for a wind crystal, I stopped when I heard two pings sound, one next to me, and another one … from Luki?

"A … duel request?"

Duster got up from his seat and started making his way to Luki.

"If you can make those kinds of accusations, then you must be prepared to fight for them."

His voice sounded calm and soft, but I can feel his anger.

"You really think that you can win against me? I'll accept this just to show you how wrong you are!"

The other players quickly cleared out a area, while the two simply stood away from each other, Luki pulling out a gladius and kite shield, and Duster … simply stood there.

"Prepare yourself, loser!"

"I'm fine as I am."

"Gah, so full of yourself! I'm ending this now!"

The match started, Luki started running at Duster at full force, planning on ramming him with his shield. The attack hit, but his health didn't go down. Looking beyond the shield, Luki noticed that his combatant was glowing blue.

"Mana Shield? You're a priest?"

"Not purely, but then again, why do you care? I'm just some loser …"

He grabbed the shield, pushed it aside as if it was nothing, and easily decked Luki in the face, knocking him back some. A good chunk of his hp was gone.

"It isn't as simple as just punching your way to win this game!"

He took out a sword and tossed it at him, grabbing it in an instant.

"Fight me as a real warrior, a real Milletian!"

He started rushing at him again, while Duster only put the sword to the ground.

"Why do you want me to do it your way?"

He stopped glowing blue, and took the slash, while only getting a well sized cut on his face, Duster smashed the hilt of the blade in Luki's gut, making him collapse.

"End this, now. We can't let this happen before we go to take on the First End."

He started walking back to his seat, not noticing that Luki pulled out one last sword, a claymore, and tried slashing Duster in the back. At the last moment, he dodged with a side flip, but took a slash across his nose. His hat fell off, revealing … two pale purple ears on top of his head, ears of a wolf, and ever growing angry pulsing sapphire eyes.

"You've brought this upon yourself."

Under his coat, he pulled out two emerald green crosses … no, they were too centered to be Holy Crosses … Cross Bars?

"A … puppeteer?"

With a simple whip, cyan wires shot from the bars, wrapping around Luki, before he was flung into the air, and into the nearby stone wall.

**Duster: Victory!**

He holstered his control bars back under his coat, grabbed his hat and tucked in his ears, while leaving the meeting.

"After that, I'm sure you'll want to do this tomorrow. Oh, and by the way, Luki. …"

He stared right into his fear filled eyes, his eyes glowing in anger.

"I'm **not** a beta player. I'm just as much a beginner as you are."

Duster started to walk away towards Bangor. He may want some time to himself after that. I'll check on him after the meeting.

"Well … any objections to letting him stay on the raid?"

He saw no hands whatsoever.

"Me neither. Alright … now, as for strategies …"

Sometime later …

I was going to head to the inn, but then I forgot about Duster. While it isn't any of my business to pry in his personal affairs in a game like this, I still have to see if he wants to go tomorrow. Passing by Bangor, I found him sitting at the bar, thank god with no booze, but with … a bowl of ramen? Since when does the bartender have ramen?

"May I sit with you?"

He didn't even look at me, but kept eating the ramen, giving no objection. I took a seat next to him, only to have him look away a little bit. I'm not radioactive, am I?

"You know, I never would have pegged you as a puppeteer, it threw me off when you tossed Luki in the wall like that."

"No one ever suspects a puppeteer to be good …"

He voice had gone even quieter than before.

"I've heard from the beta that puppeteer is not a very good starting talent, but even so, I still did it."

"Puppeteers base stats are Strength and Dexterity, both of which are hard to come by at low levels."

"I don't care!"

His voice raised up to a lot, but then he quieted back down quickly.

"So what if puppetry isn't to be used to start off with? It's one of the few talents I can work with, one of the few I really enjoy working with. Is that so wrong?"

He stopped for a moment … then continued eating his ramen.

"Honestly … I think you're one of the few people that get that, and I respect that."

"It'll take a while for us to get out of this game, so why not?"

"To keep ourselves from going crazy?"

"Exactly!"

They both continued to sit in the silence … while he kept eating the ramen.

"Alright, seriously, where'd you get the ramen from?"

"Jennifer sells them for 25 gold a pop."

Why not. I ordered some ramen as well, and started eating with him.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you but … doing something that no one else would do … it helps me to make sure that I stay myself."

"I feel the same way, but even in a death game like this, it's good to make like a perosna, act unlike yourself."

"Hmph … I'll take it to consideration."

"I came by to see if you still wanted to go on the raid tomorrow."

"If I didn't, I would have left the party. Some players need to have some respect sometimes …"

"I hear you … I wouldn't want a party member dying on me, so don't do anything reckless tomorrow, alright?"

"… Of course."

The next day …

"Alright, seeing how there's only two of us, we're tasked with taking care of any minions guarding the First End, the Ghost Armors. I'll go in with a wind burst and knock them back, while you change lead and deal the most damage you can on it."

"Change?"

We walked along the destroyed world of Tir Chonaill, or better known as Tir na Nog, looking like Tir Chonaill.

"Is this the first time you've ever been in a party?"

"Yes."

I stopped in the sheer nonsense that was this. I'm taken a complete beginner under my wing.

"Kyza! Wait up!"

It was a good thing I did stop, otherwise, I would've missed whoever was calling for me. Only to be greeted with a tackle pounce that made me lose a few hp. Only one person would tackle pounce me.

"Good to see you caught up with me once again, Fiorae! But please get off me before I lose any more hp!"

"Oops! I should stop doing that, at least until we get out of here!"

She got off me and helped me back up, then I gave her a normal hug. We started making our way back with the group, but then she noticed the silent half wolf, still walking along.

"You ..?"

He froze and swiftly turned, his eyes actually showing something other than anger. He was surprised.

"Fiorae?"

"Wait, you know him?"

"Do you remember Seria?"

"Yeah, Student Council President, loved by our entire school, what of her?"

"This guy here is her brother."

"What?!"

He turned a soft shade of red in response, trying to hide his sight with the tip of his cap.

"Can we please not bring my sister into this?"

"I'm sorry, it's just … I never thought she had a brother. Out of everything she's done, I've barely ever seen you around."

"I'm going to say one thing and then we go to catch up with the group. Who do you think was the one that made her posters?"

"… um?"

"Good answer."

He started to walk away, and we went to catch up with him.

"Do you know who?"

"No, other than him being her brother, I don't know much else about him. He's very illusive."

" … interesting …"

We stood outside the final gate to the End Room, while the captain explained the strategy one last time.

"Alright, as said in the Guide Book, The Dark Lord is waiting for us past this room. Defeat him, and the first generation is finished, and we can show the rest of the Milletians that this game _can_ be beat!"

Their loud roar of battle was what opened the door, being met with a dark room, and a being iron clad in dark armor.

**Dark Lord, Morgant**

"Everyone … CHARGE!"

The room lit to light, being filled with the sound of clanging and yelling. It was like a small war. We had to change our plans now that Fiorae joined up. Duster said that he can handle himself, so I held him to it, keeping a close eye on his hp. I blasted a Ghost Armor with wind burst, while Fiorae jumped over head, slamming the tip of her blade right in its core, another looming over her, ready to strike. I took out my blade and it quickly met its nonexistent ghost head.

"Thanks for that!"

"No problem!"

Even for a ragtag group of players, we were managing this amazingly. We took care of all of the guard armors on our side, keeping the main force clear while the Dark Lord's health dropped a quarter each minute. This was almost too easy … Wait a minute, where's Duster? Right in the middle of six Ghost Armors, prepared to chop his head off, but he was still looking calm. I got five fire crystals ready to burn the armors to a puddle, only to see them all … stop? A yellow pulse rung out from the center, seeming to affect the armors … as I saw Z's floating above their head.

"They're … asleep?"

"Oh, he's been working on music too? Clever …"

A puff of smoke appeared from the center, and in an instant, the armors were all cut clean in half, leaving the boy in the suit with a lute on his back, his bars out and wires connected to a small girl figure in a white sundress, short cherry red hair, and no face.

"The Swift Pierrot Ulia … Think you can take us down?"

The next thing I knew, the marionette was right at my side, with a hammer swung out, and a loud crashing sound behind me.

"Hey! Stop your day dreaming, we're almost done!"

He's a completely different person in battle …

"R-right!"

There were no other Ghost Armors left, only the Dark Lord himself, but he started to hold himself back … something wasn't right. Looking up, I noticed that there was dark cloud blanketing the ceiling. I released fire at the cloud, revealing a horrifying sight … it was like … a giant corpse, but with its heart out in the open, I could just barely hear it slowly beating.

"What … the hell ..?"

Fiorae and Duster both saw what I did.

"We have to warn them … this things going to take the place of the Dark Lord at his death!"

"Alright, he's almost dead!"

We were too late, Luki took it upon himself to deliver the last blow, only to have him disappear into the shadows, and fly into the dark clouds.

"Everyone, get away from the center, now!"

Luki and the Captain looked back at me before a bright flash made the smoke disappear, and a large thud hit the floor. It still took the look of a corpse, but he was **definitely **breathing, living, his heart concealed, with banadages on his eyes, four bandaged arms, the two bottom arms holding twin swords, and a wing and a half, this monstrosity roared, rippling the airwaves of the entire room, it was so bad that you could even see its breath.

_**The Embodiment of Destruction, Glas Ghaibhleann **_

"What … what the hell is that thing?!"

"We can't fight that thing …"

"Retreat!"

The group started heading back to the previously entered, while me and Fiorae went to join them.

"Alright, is everyone here?!"

"No, the captain isn't here!"

"Luki isn't here either!"

Come to think of it … where the hell is Duster? Again? I went back in the boss room, only to find Duster, not dead thank god, but with Luki … and a dying captain. They had both looked at each other before looking at Glas.

"Duster, what the hell are you doing?!"

"The captain is in his death cycle, we only have three minutes to kill this thing! Don't try and stop me, I will tear this thing apart!"

He did look at me with a face of surprise before they both started running towards it, and I could only facepalm in out stupid this guy is.

"Fiorae …"

She already had her sword out and ready.

"Let's do this!"

We both rushed in with them, using many different crystals, I summoned a grass golem while Fiorae jumped on its arm, tossing her right at its face, stabbing it right at the forehead. The monster flailed its swords while trying to attack Luki and Duster, while Luki easily blocked a slash and ran for its legs, while Dusters cap hat was destroyed, he jumped onto the flat of its sword, somehow staying on. Joining with Luki, I had the golem attempt to knock Glas onto his knees with a strong punch and a well placed Shield Charge. Fiorae kept placing well placed fast slashes across its head, despite how hard it normally is to wield a sword of that size, and Duster's Pierrot used its giant hammer to shatter the sword they were on before heading up to the top, Pierrot disappearing into nothing, while another puff of smoke appeared, replaced with a large wooden body covered in steel armor on its armor and front.

"The Iron-Clad Colossus Alor, take him down!"

It punched the top of Glas' head, forcing him down to the ground, Luki barely getting out of the way and my golem being crushed.

"Change!"

"Right!"

I loaded up five water crystals … no I'll do what I'm not supposed to, and add another water crystal, which will most likely make the cylinder break, but now's not the time for this. I ran up right to the newly made hole from Fiorae's sword, and fired a torrent of water right in it. Its hp depleted, and it burst into a mass of darkness, even breaking the floor apart, and trying to take us in with it.

"Kyza! You're the closest to the captain, revive him before it's too late!"

Duster tried to keep himself from falling in, using Alor to keep him in place while catching Fiorae at the last second, but with how strong the force was, even something as heavy as a colossus couldn't stay in place. I used a wind crystal to fly my way over to the captain. He only has thirty seconds left.

"Thank god, we've just barely made it! Here!"

I took out a Phoenix Feather, but he stopped me from using it.

"You … you were in the Beta test, weren't you?"

Cover … blown …

"You knew that something was off with the Dark Lord … he was too easy … I tried to stop Luki too, but he was too stubborn. I … actually would have done the same …"

"You were after the last attack bonus rare item … is that how you ended up like this? … You're beta tester too?"

He started to glow … the dying light …

"You … you can … no … you will be the one … to show them all … that this game can be beaten … you've already taken down one boss …"

" … and only eighteen more to go …"

" … you can do this … for … everyone …"

He burst into small fragments of light. I lost my footing and flew into the darkness, with Luki, Duster, and Fiorae following along with me, and the rest of the parties as it only grew bigger.

And after all of that … we all appeared back in Tir Chonaill, and large text appeared over head.

**Congratulations!**

Shouts of Joy let out as players received rewards, exp, and gold, an additional window appeared in front of my results window.

**You got the last attacking bonus!**

**Bonus Item**

**Coat of Snow**

"That … was awesome …"

Duster had a worried look on his face, but I could feel that it was face of relieve too, that we even got out of there alive, and one of sadness that the captain died.

"I've never seen anyone use more than five crystals before … you deserve the victory of this Generation."

Fiorae looked happy too, but with the death of the captain … how could we be happy?

Even so, the rest of the group started cheering for me, while I tried to settle them down.

"Why?"

Everyone looked to see Luki sitting down, along with a few others.

"Why did you let the captain die?"

" … let him die?"

His face flashed of anger.

"Of course! You knew that a second, no, the real boss would appear after killing the fake one! If you told us about that up front, he wouldn't have died!"

Great … people started whispering amongst themselves, then looking at me in disbelief. Duster and Fiorae stood in front of me in order to block sight, Fiorae knew that I hated people staring at me, and Duster took a hint.

"She must be a beta tester! She knew how the boss's attack patterns were going to go, and shared them with her party members, hell, Luki could have died because he wasn't told!"

That's not true at all … that monster … he was never in the beta …

"Other beta testers are here, too, aren't there? Come out, damn it!"

There were looks of distrust at me, at my party … and even at each other … who knew who was a beta tester … but if this keeps up … we may not be able to finish the game at all.

..! That's what the captain meant … I don't like where this is going, but … * gulp * … I don't have much choice …

"Listen, before I decide to throw you into a wall again, just calm down-."

Laughter … laughing was all that I could do … slowly getting more crazed …

"A beta tester? I wish you wouldn't compare me to those absolute n00bs."

"W-what?!"

I started making my way past all of the group and to Luki.

"Most of the 5k beta testers were starters that didn't even know how move to a different town. You guys are better than they are."

Luki's face was one of anger … and not believing the words coming out of my mouth.

"But I'm not like them … I made it further than anyone else during the beta test. The reason I knew the boss's skills is because I fought monsters with the skills far more powerful than that. Hell, I even fought him again just for fun …"

With a flip of my hair, revealing my right eye, I stared right into his eyes.

"I know a lot more, way more than any Adventure's Assistant."

"W-what? That's … that's way worse than a beta tester! You … you're cheating, a cheater!"

The rest of the group, minus Fiorae and Duster, agreed at this, even combining Cheater and Beta Tester … Beater.

"A beater … I like it."

Even more stunned faces emerged from them all.

"That's right, I'm a beater. From now on, don't confuse me with the other testers!"

I opened up my inventory and equipped the cloak of snow, it was almost like the alchemist in training coat, but was silver like my shirt, and had a holster for another cylinder on the back for some reason. Odd.

I looked back at Luki with a smirk before walking up to him, right in his face.

"By the way …"

Five wind crystals in cylinder.

"Don't **ever** call me sweetie."

I unleashed a tornado like burst of wind that made him fall down the hill. I walked back down the path for the moongate.

"No way …"

Fiorae couldn't believe what had just happened, while Duster ran after me.

"Wait."

"You called my name when we were fighting."

"Sorry for using your first name, or would you prefer being called something else?"

"Where did you learn it?"

"You can see another hp gauge next to yours, on the right of the screen, right? Isn't something written next to it?"

He did look …

"Ky … za … Kyza? That's your name?"

"Yes …"

He stood there silent, before he patted himself on the back of the head, holding back a slight smile.

"I'm such an idiot, that's been there the whole time!"

Is he being honest or is he trying to get me to laugh? I can't tell.

"You've proven to me that puppetry can be strong, and I'm sure that you can grow even stronger with it, the same with music. So … if someone you trust ever invites you to join a guild, take that chance. There's a big limit to what you can do as a solo player."

"But … what about you?"

I ignored that question, opened my party menu and destroyed the party. Before making my way back down, I stopped one more time.

"And … Duster?

He was still standing where he was.

"I think you should leave your ears out more often … you look cute."

His face turned beat red while his ears stood up straight.

"W-w-w-w-what?! What made you say that?!"

I also ignored that question as I made my way out of town.

**I think … I can make this work. Also to anyone that wants a part in the story, I will think about it, the only way you may not be in it is if I've run out of roles that needs to be filled in the episodes. At the moment, I do need a Blacksmith for a later chapter, so if anyone just happens to be a blacksmith on Mabinogi or wants one to be made, let me have the information of your character!**

**I also own nothing other than my OC's. Thank you for reading!**

_**-The Detective**_


	3. Crystal White Deer

"Here's to us, the Sun-marked White Dogs!"

A clatter of glasses sounded off at the lake village's restaurant, Emain Macha's Loch Lios, where I sat at a table with five others, before looking at me with my now slightly modified coat with a sun mark on the right side.

"And here's to Kyza, the woman who saved our lives! Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

I nervously rose my glass up to share the celebration, but I still feel weird doing this.

"C-Cheers …"

Three of the members were nice and all, but other two had my attention, their leader, a blue haired giant woman with a scar on her right blank eye as opposed to her sapphire blue eye named Julana and a green haired elf boy in a ponytail and purple face markings below his crimson red eyes named Cyclone.

"Kyza, I'm sorry to ask you this, but what exactly is your total level?"

"… I'm level 80."

I hated lying. My display shows me as current level 80, but my total is 240. I've already helped out with a good amount of the generations, stopping after Generation 7.

"Huh, that isn't very different from us. You're amazing as a solo player!"

"Being a solo alchemist is simple when you get down to it, as long as I target isolated enemies and have enough crystals."

"Ah, I see … well then I have a request for you. Do you think it would be troubling if you were to join our guild?"

Oh boy.

"The only one we have who can take care of ranged attacks is Tene over there, a gunner. Cyclone here, however …"

She started patting him on the head as if he was a kid.

"I was planning on having him switch to archery, as his combat skills are … well, terrible."

"Gee, thanks!"

He swatted her hand away while making a somewhat mythed face, though everyone knew he was only joking as they started laughing along with him. He knew fairly well that elves were weak in terms of physical combat, but surpass humans and giants in archery and magic, as well as speed. Giants however, have more strength and stamina than humans and elfs, as well as more hp, but are terrible in terms of magic and has no range skills. Humans are more or less the middle of the two, equal stats, hp, stamina, and mana.

"We all make up our school's Drama Club, so it's like this a lot. Don't worry, you'll get use to it!"

All of them nodded and smiled, Cyclone's smile was the most sincere. Well … why not.

"Okay … then I will join, after all…"

I lost my nervousness and gave a weak smile. I may as well take my own advice.

"Thanks."

**The Crystal White Deer**

A few days later …

In the boss room of the frozen dungeon of giants, Par Ruins, we held off against four frozen zombies, or Bandersnatches while Abel worked to tame the mystical white Unicorn in the middle. Lighting two of them on fire, I looked back to see Cyclone barely dodging a failed smash attempt while five bolts of fire hit it right in its core by Kel. Abel had tamed the unicorn, and the Generation 8 quest line can continue, while we only got stronger and stronger.

"So, the raid group made it to Generation 10 … Amazing. Hey Kyza. What's the difference between the raid groups and us?"

"Hmm … well, they know all the fasest ways to get XP, and they don't share them."

I sat with Julana after the recent completion nearby the Zardine plains just outside the cold fields of Physis, when she brings up one of the few questions I do not want to answer.

"Aw, I'm sure that's part of it, but it think its will."

"Will? What does more will have to do with this?"

"Not the stat, Will, you crazy person. I meant Willpower, the determination to protect one's friends… No, everyone. Right now, they're doing that for us, but I like to think mine is just as strong. Our first priority is our friends' safety, but at some point, someday … we want to make it up there, at the top, with the rest.

"I see, you're right … crazy person."

"Hey, now!"

She was jumped from behind by Abel while the rest came soon after. If the White Dogs ever do grow up and make it to the front lines … her ideals could change the intense atmosphere up there. I eyed at my lvl, total now being 268.

"I have an announcement for you guys. Eh, from our last quest, we've saved up 500,000 gold!"

We went back to town so we could find an inn for the night, before sleeping to find many pouches of gold behind a grinning leader.

"We'll be able to buy our own hall at this rate!"

"But how about we get Cyclone some new gear?"

"No no, really I'm fine, I stay in the back for a reason."

"We can't exactly have Kyza protect us forever, you know."

"Oh … you right, my bad."

"I don't mind at all, don't worry about it."

Cyclone's face was that of … depression … I should keep an eye on him for a while.

Sometime later …

I decided to do some late night leveling after everyone else went to sleep and headed out to Gairech Hill, only to find something … or someone unexcepected. I found a few guild members taking care of a very large Ancient Ogre, the last blow being dealt after being knocked down and pierced by a fiery stab to the head. The sword was sheathed, ceasing whatever burns was left on it, its owner was none other than Fiorae.

"Hmm? Kyza! Hey guys, let's start cleaning up and head to the inn, I'll be right back!"

She came up to me and we both greeted with our usual fist bump.

"What are you doing out here this late Kyza? Doing some night grinding?"

"Maybe …"

"Wait a minute … that mark."

She had noticed the Sun Mark with a Dog icon floating next to my name.

"You … joined a guild?"

"Oh … that … yeah, I did …"

After hearing one of her members saying they're good to go, I made my way past her.

"Sorry to interrupt, I'll see you."

I made my way down the road, while I just barely heard her say something.

"Hmm … that still bugging you?"

Some more time later …

Getting back in Dunbarton, I got smacked in the face by a PM.

**Kyza,**

**Cyclone ran away, and we have no idea where he is.**

**We're heading to Emain to see if he's there.**

**Let us know if anything comes up.**

**Julana**

Ran away … where would be the last place we'd look? I looked over to the path leading to the new sea port that just opened up.

"Smart …"

The port was small, but was not forgiving with its many hiding places, but then where's the first place someone would look? I looked up to greet a bright flash in my eyes, coming from the Light House. I made my way up and sure enough, there he was, in a elf custom robe.

"Cyclone."

He must have been sleeping, but now I went and woke him up.

"Kyza?"

"Everyone's worried about you, buddy."

With my last encounter with Duster, I've learned to leave a person some space and will get closer if permitted by the person, so I sat on the other side of him.

"Kyza … I want to die … you should come with me."

"Woah, woah! You mean a double suicide?!"

He laughed softly.

"That might be okay."

I jumped a bit at his response. I may have to knock him out so he doesn't do that …

"No, I'm sorry … that was a lie. If I had the courage to die, I would have done it by now, wouldn't be hiding in the safety of the port, would I? But still … why do we?"

"Why do we what?"

"Why do we have to die? Even though this is a game? What's even the point ..?

... oh man, he's gone that far on the think pan? That's bad.

" … really, I don't think there is a point."

…..

"I don't want to die …"

A fear of death? How has he even gotten this far? It's clear to me that we're gonna be here for a while …

Later that night, we somehow ended up sleeping the same bed because he couldn't fall asleep. My question was if he was asleep or blushing like mad from sleeping next to a girl. Or both. I lifted a hand in the silent room, and clenched.

"_I'll protect you all … no matter what!"_

The next day …

And of course, they decided to do something drastic. While Julana went to buy the Guild Hall, the others thought up the idea of getting some extra gold for new furniture, and with their level, they wanted to go to the Longa Desert Ruins, which I had no problem with. Until they decided to use a Mysterious Arrow as the pass inside. It's the more dangerous version of the dungeon the game had to offer, only being able to get in with the Mysterious Arrow after finding the Amethyst, Emerald, and Topaz Arrows. I was at least able to convince them not to fight the boss at the end; it would be too much without more Mysterious Arrows.

"See? I told you we would be alright!"

They actually managed the dungeon pretty well, aside from all the mummy's and ghost's that were appearing, but I feel like there has to be more mobs than that …

"Hey guys, look over here!"

Aside from the trail of rooms up ahead, there was a room to the side … filled with treasure chests … oh god …

"A treasure room?! I've never seen anything like this in the other dungeons!"

"Maybe that's what all these keys are for!"

I hoped to god that they wouldn't find this room. The Treasure Chest Room … theres only so many of these rooms in dungeons, but can only be opened by special Treasure Chest Keys dropped by random mobs on the floor, move to another one and the keys disappear. What lies in the chest … either lies fortune … or death. Though, they've been doing an amazing job here, maybe it won't be a problem.

"Hey! This one is empty!"

Son of a.

The Gates closed, trapping us in the room, shadows emerged from the ground, taking the sandy chests with them, replacing them were … Lizard Witches and Ruin Gargoyles?!

"It's a trap!"

A nickel for every time I've heard that. Ah, now's not the time to be making jokes! Loading up the crystals for a golem, I summoned a sulfur golem to use Windmill, knocking them all to the walls and keep a safe perimeter for us all.

"We need to get out of here, now!"

Kel tried to use a wax wing to teleport back to town, but it wasn't working! None of them are!

"A teleport restricted trap? That's unheard of!"

I loaded up a frozen blast, we don't have a choice.

"We have to fight our way out, watch your health!"

I fired on a mass of witches, all freezing solid before having golem reform and crush them, while the others tried holding their own, only for them all to be hit by a five charged lightning bolt, and Kel was subjected to many icebolts by the rest, entering her Death Count, Abel was being stomped and smashed, with no time for him to counter, Tene tried holding them all back with her gunner skills, but all it landed her in was a Firebolt smash. The only ones not in count were me and Cyclone, who was barely holding them off with his Mirage arrow barrage.

"Kyza, I don't know how much longer I can hold them all off!"

"Just hold on, just a little bit longer!"

I was using up most of my water and wind crystals, my blood, even if in a game, felt like it was boiling, with the one idea stuck in my head. Get them all out alive. I heard a cry ring out, and the sight of green starting to glow.

"Cyclone! Damn it!"

I let the golem rush out on the remaining fomor while dealing with my own, but my own health was low too. … I wanted to hide this from them, but I have no choice. I loaded up two wind, 1 fire, water, and clay crystals, and fired at the last one, a larger ruin gargoyle that was rushing at me, slowing it down, while filling my health back up, then knocking it back through the wall. I quickly got four feathers from my pouch.

"Alright guys, let's get out of-

Three bursts rang out … three names disappeared from the party list. I turned to find their pixels, still floating up, and one last one on the other side of the room, and a Witch still with him. I loaded up one last batch of water crystals, preparing to fire, and out of nowhere …

My cylinder burst apart.

_No…_

"No!"

His timer hit zero, and everything in the room started to grey, except for me … and Cyclone …

But his face … it had a smile, and mouthed something to me … before bursting into light.

A few months later …

_Christmas Eve … a time where everyone would be merry … even if you're in a death game, others still managed to find ways to enjoy themselves for this. The developers even fixed the towns for a more Christmas theme. … Unbelievable._

I sat on a bench, alone, with a new Water Cylinder and dual War Swords that I constructed.

"You've been doing a lot of risky stuff lately."

Behind me was one of my information brokers, Olko, shrouded in his Lava Cat Robe.

"Were you able to find out anything useful?"

"Nothing worth charging money for."

"That's usual. Kind of useless to be honest."

"This is a first time event, it didn't even happen in Beta. No way to get info. On Christmas Eve, or really, late tonight, an event creature known as the Crystal Deer is said to appear in Physis. A lot of guilds have been looking for it, almost since night time even came upon us."

I got up, and started walking towards the port.

"You have an idea of where it could be?"

"Maybe."

"You're seriously going to try and find it by yourself? You'll freeze before anything!"

I was already long gone.

_In this world, the dead won't return. But I've heard a rumor that finding the Crystal Deer and interacting with it give the finder an item that can revive the dead. If I try to find it by myself, the many beings of Physis, that and the guilds may try and stop me, kill me even. I'll die in a place where no one will see me, leaving nothing behind._

Flashes of Julana's distraught face kept ringing in my head.

"You were a beater the whole time?! You never had any right to be with us!"

My mind showed me and her, standing within the desert of Connous, holding feathers to the new guild hall. In that instant, she turned away, and started running into the desert. I tried running after her, but … giants run faster than humans … and by the time I caught up with her … I saw a Giant Worm sifting its way back into the sand … and a large hammer left, sinking into the sand before bursting into light.

_That's right … it was my arrogance … that killed you. If I haven't had hidden my level … If I find the Crystal Deer, I can bring Cyclone's soul back, and find out what he said …_

I overlooked the snow white of Physis, now in a Silver and Red Lava Cat robe.

_No matter what words he curses me with … I must accept them._

I ran through the fields, not caring about how much snowfall there was, looking around the Silva Forest, a recently added location that I know no guilds have bothered checking yet, only to be distracted by the sound of a teleport, from a nearby Mana Tunnel, Fiorae and some of her guild members.

"Hey."

"You followed me?"

"Yeah. You're after the revival item?"

"Yeah."

"Don't throw away your life on some stupid rumor. You know well that someone made it up just so that people would either be looking around like idiots, or to get killed."

…

"If you die in this game, you die for real! The moment your HP hits zero, your brain-."

"Stop."

"Fighting solo is crazy, you need to stop this! Join us, and whoever gets the revival item drop keeps it, without hard feelings either way. That's at least fair, isn't it?"

"… Then there'd be no point."

I grabbed my cylinder from its holster, and readied an frost burst. Fiorae and her group were startled, the most being Fiorae. While her party got ready to fight, she kept them from doing anything rash.

"I can't let you die here, Kyza!"

The Frost Burst was ready, and right on time. More came out from the tunnel, all with weapons drawn, shady looks across their faces.

"You were followed, too, Fiorae."

She pulled out her cutlass from its sheath in disgust.

"I hate it when you're right, you know that?"

"All too well."

The Guild, Grand Wolf Treaty? They would do anything for a rare item.

"What should we do?"

"I …"

She looked at me once, then looked away, cursing.

"Get going, Kyza!"

"Fiorae ..?"

"Just go, we'll hold them off!"

… she wasn't about to take no for an answer … I took off, away from them all, while I looked at Fiorae one last time, then continued on. In the middle of the forest, there was an open area, surrounded by wild life and a sense of magic as well.

*Jingle…*

*Jingle…*

A White glow appeared flying in from the sky, smoothly gliding into the middle of the area. It took the form of a deer, but it was riddled with magic, ice, and snow when it walked. The Crystal Deer. A burst of snow appeared in front of it, three giant worms like before in the desert, but were infused with ice, inside and out, all making a crackling sound that made me even more mad.

"Shut up…"

They all started rushing at me, while I had Flame Burst loaded up. I screamed at them all, my blood boiling, running for them …

Fiorae's party laid out in the fields, tired, but had driven off the Treaty. I walked towards Fiorae, who was staring up towards the snowfall and the moon appearing from the clouds before noticing me.

"You … Kyza, you -!"

My face was one that she had never seen before, complete dismay. I tossed a white feather at her.

"That's the revival item."

"Let me see here … the target player …"

I heard her stop short.

"Within five seconds?!"

"Use it on the next person you see die."

I started walking away, until she grabbed onto my robe.

"Kyza. Kyza!"

I turned to her, her eyes starting to fill with tears.

"You have to survive! Survive until the end of this god awful game! Please …"

She let go, and I continued on. I heard her start crying, dropping on the snow.

"**Bye."**

I went back to the inn in Vales for the night, I couldn't even sleep, sitting at a desk, my head buried in my arms, when I heard a ping, a yellow mark floating in front of me.

**Gift Message From Cyclone**

"Cyclone?!"

I opened the message to find a small box, with a button on top. Pressing it, the box lit to life, floating.

"Merry Christmas, Kyza."

What.

"I'm guessing by the time you hear this … I'm probably dead. How to explain this … at the start, I never really wanted to leave Tir Chonaill. But if I kept thinking like that, I would die. And that's no one's fault. It's my own fault. Ever since then, you told me each day and night that I wouldn't die. If I died, you'll probably beat yourself up on the matter, so I decided to make this message. By the way, I know your true strength. I … saw it on incident a while ago. I racked my brain really hard about why you would hide your level and join us, but … it just didn't come up. But when I found out what level you really were … I felt like I could breathe a lot easier. Keep going. Go on to the end of this world, find out why this is happening, and why … you and I met. That's what I'm asking of you. There's still some time … why don't I sing for you? It's Christmas after all!"

He started humming to … White Christmas. I couldn't hold it in anymore … my tears hit the desk in the music filled room.

"Goodbye, Kyza. I'm glad that I met you, … to be with you."

I now realized what he was trying to say when he died.

**Thank you. Goodbye.**

The box stopped shining, dropping on the desk.

**I'm not gonna lie … kinda started tearing up while making this …**

**I'm gonna go lie down for a while.**

**Dang it.**

**I own nothing other than my OC's.**

_**-The Detective**_


	4. Hold up there a Sec

Alright, first off, Thank you for your reviews and apparent liking this series, I honestly didn't think I'd be able to pull this off.

Second off, I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while, I didn't expect school to get so crazy so fast.

Third off, I'm sorry again to say that I'll have to go on hiatus until say … June 5th? The life of this High School Senior was easy … up until last week. Drama Club, Projects, the usual. .

However, I'm not going to leave you in the dark here. I've only ever worked with crossovers, and recently I thought, why not just work with one for once? ( Along with MBO, of course. ) In a while, I'm gonna try and figure out how to set up a poll and I'll let you decide on my next story. I'd be very grateful to hear your responses.

I will make sure to do all I can for you all to enjoy. Thank you for your time.

The Detective


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